Jack's "new" 2006 LJ Rubicon

locrwln

Expedition Leader
So, I had been looking for a Jeep on and off every since I sold my 80. I sold my last Jeep twelve years ago and five Toyotas later, I was ready for a Jeep again. I have been keeping my eyes open for the right one and I found it. I was looking for a 2005-2006 Jeep TJ Unlimited Rubicon. Seeing as they only made 12,500 in those two years, finding the right one took a little while. I looked at several that weren't in very good shape, so I kept looking. I found one that was a little more than I wanted to spend and apparently more than everyone else as well, because it was on CL for a couple of weeks. My wife and I went to look at it anyway.

It was listed as a 2006 with 23k miles, garage kept. It was owned by an older gentleman and he had put a 2" spacer lift and 33x10.50R15 BFG A/T's on it. The tires had 900 miles on them when I bought it. He was the second owner and only put 2500 miles on it in the 3 years he owned it. The original owner used it as a dinghy behind their motor home, so most of the miles were from towing. The inside is pretty much brand new. The original owner put the aftermarket rims, chrome grill cover (to keep the rock chips down), fender flares and seat covers on it. Other than that, it is all original. It really was like a brand new 2006 Jeep. So, I couldn't say no. ;) I bought it about two weeks ago, I just haven't had time to write/post up about it. The specs are Rubicon package, 4.0l, automatic with cruise, tilt, A/C and the hardtop.

Here are some pics.



Those are from a trip my wife and I did last weekend. We went through Dog Valley, up and over Hennessy pass to the Boca/Stampede area. We worked our way to the west around the lakes until we came to where the Little Truckee River dumps into the lake. We did some minor hiking around before we crossed the river and worked our way out to hwy 89 north of Truckee and south of the Meadow Lake turn off for Fordyce. It had been almost 18 years since I had been up there and it was awesome to do such a scenic easy "trail day." I had never made the river crossing before so that was very cool. There are some great camp spots up there and it would make a great day trip or over-nighter.

Here are a few more pictures:



I didn't get any pictures of the river crossing, but there wasn't any drama this time of the year. And that is why I bought the Jeep, I wanted an easy "day-tripper" type rig and eventually I will get it ready for Rubicon, Fordyce and especially Dusy-Ershim.

Jack
 

Bigjerm

SE Expedition Society
Love it. The LJ's are getting more and more rare as time goes. Getting 1 was my dream but everyone around here wanted way to much for a Rubicon so I ended up with a regular LJ. Same story, old guy owned, chromed it out and when I bought it a few years ago it had 14k miles on it :Wow1:

What are your plans for it? Looks pretty capable right now.
 

jscusmcvet

Explorer
COngrats on a great find. I have owned several jeeps and my current LJ rubicon is my favorite. Really great ride and very capable. What great pics of your trip. Needless to say I am envious of your surroundings.

Have fun with it.

John
 

1stDeuce

Explorer
Hahaha I wondered how long you'd put up with "wheeling" a 3/4 ton truck!!
Welcome to the Jeep family, don't forget to wave! Nice color too!!

Well, it's already got lockers, lift, tires... Just needs some sway bar disconnects and a belly-up skidplate and you're pretty much ready for anything!!
The belly up does more for clearance and mobility than a 4" lift... My TJ has about 2" of lift, and a Nth Degree skid, and I have more clearance under the middle with 285's than my bud with 4" of lift and 35's!
IMG_0567s.JPG

It's gonna tow nice behind your Dmax too... :)
IMG_1170.jpgIMG_1176.jpg

Chris
 

locrwln

Expedition Leader
Love it. The LJ's are getting more and more rare as time goes. Getting 1 was my dream but everyone around here wanted way to much for a Rubicon so I ended up with a regular LJ. Same story, old guy owned, chromed it out and when I bought it a few years ago it had 14k miles on it :Wow1:

What are your plans for it? Looks pretty capable right now.

I agree, I wanted one before there was one. At the time, AEV was stretching TJ's and I was ready to pull the trigger then. Kind of glad I didn't, as I like the factory version better. It is very capable as it, but for the eventual trails I plan on doing, it will need a little more clearance. Nothing crazy, I don't want to ruin it.

COngrats on a great find. I have owned several jeeps and my current LJ rubicon is my favorite. Really great ride and very capable. What great pics of your trip. Needless to say I am envious of your surroundings.

Have fun with it.

John

Thank you, we are really enjoying it and yes, it is a great place to live.

Nice find, really does sound like a new Jeep, but next time you go there you should bring a fishing pole!

Thank you. There were plenty of trout in the river.

Hahaha I wondered how long you'd put up with "wheeling" a 3/4 ton truck!!
Welcome to the Jeep family, don't forget to wave! Nice color too!!

Well, it's already got lockers, lift, tires... Just needs some sway bar disconnects and a belly-up skidplate and you're pretty much ready for anything!!
The belly up does more for clearance and mobility than a 4" lift... My TJ has about 2" of lift, and a Nth Degree skid, and I have more clearance under the middle with 285's than my bud with 4" of lift and 35's!
It's gonna tow nice behind your Dmax too... :)
Chris

Oh, don't worry, the truck still has plenty of wheeling in it's future. :sombrero:

The color is growing on me. My first Jeep was white and I still prefer white, but man, does this thing pop when it's clean. A body lift, MML and TT are probably the next thing on my list. I will be adding the Currie Anti-Rock sway bar. I really like them.

It still has the Roadmaster mounts and wiring on the front for the tow bar, so I just need to source the tow bar and it will be ready to do.

And as far as being in the Jeep family, it's good to be back.

Jack
 

toymaster

Explorer
I commend you on your vehicle choice. In my humble opinion, the LJ has the perfect wheelbase. I see them around on dealer lots every so often and have to resist the urge.
 

locrwln

Expedition Leader
I commend you on your vehicle choice. In my humble opinion, the LJ has the perfect wheelbase. I see them around on dealer lots every so often and have to resist the urge.

I agree and thank you. I know the feeling, I kept talking myself in and out of buying one for several years. I'm glad I waited though, this has been the cleanest one I have seen.

Glad you got one and are enjoying it already. Great pictures. I found a 2005 with a similar story. Wife and I love ours. I'm all the way to 43k miles. I do suggest you go to jeepforum.com And look at http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f9/2005-06-jeep-opda_cps_distributor-failure-1144202/

That issue caught me by surprise, along with the spill when filling with gas. Both are easy fixes now. The ODPA thread is long, but worth reading.

I have both the StripperGuy fix ordered, should be here tomorrow and the filler hose has been ordered as well and should be here some time this week. I had a buddy lose his motor at 50k due to the OPDA and it sucking a valve. So I am going to do my best to do all of the PM I can. I am going to switch it over to the Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel oil for the higher zinc content.

Jack
 

Bigjerm

SE Expedition Society
Yeah I got to start paying attention to the OPDA thing... I have avoided it pretty much just because I have not heard any of the noises people describe and because I have 30k miles... But hearing a 50k mile engine failure is not good.
 

1stDeuce

Explorer
The color is growing on me. My first Jeep was white and I still prefer white, but man, does this thing pop when it's clean. A body lift, MML and TT are probably the next thing on my list. I will be adding the Currie Anti-Rock sway bar. I really like them.

It still has the Roadmaster mounts and wiring on the front for the tow bar, so I just need to source the tow bar and it will be ready to do.

And as far as being in the Jeep family, it's good to be back.

Jack

Funny about the roadmaster thing... I just found a Roadmaster Sterling on CL for $30. Yes, $30. No base plate, but I got base plates with a rear bumper and hitch that I just bought, also off CL. :)

As for TT/MML/BL, I'm running the Nth, with a 1" MML and about a 3/4" body lift. (I hate body lifts, hence I went with the least amount possible by chopping my own lift blocks from 3" spacers and using longer bolts.) It is working out great!! Fan shroud is still in the stock location too, so do the three together and it's less trouble!

Hmmm. Might be worth calling AEV to see if they have any "clearance" TT kits left. They can hardly spell TJ these days... They keep putting a K in front of the J... :(

Happy trails!
C
 

locrwln

Expedition Leader
Yeah I got to start paying attention to the OPDA thing... I have avoided it pretty much just because I have not heard any of the noises people describe and because I have 30k miles... But hearing a 50k mile engine failure is not good.

Yeah, it seems to be all over the board. Some go quick and others not so much. Everyone agrees that it is a bad design that will fail, its only a matter of time.

Funny about the roadmaster thing... I just found a Roadmaster Sterling on CL for $30. Yes, $30. No base plate, but I got base plates with a rear bumper and hitch that I just bought, also off CL. :)

As for TT/MML/BL, I'm running the Nth, with a 1" MML and about a 3/4" body lift. (I hate body lifts, hence I went with the least amount possible by chopping my own lift blocks from 3" spacers and using longer bolts.) It is working out great!! Fan shroud is still in the stock location too, so do the three together and it's less trouble!

Hmmm. Might be worth calling AEV to see if they have any "clearance" TT kits left. They can hardly spell TJ these days... They keep putting a K in front of the J... :(

Happy trails!
C

Great score on the TB. I will have to keep my eyes open.

I know what you mean with AEV. A buddy and I were talking about that very thing, which is too bad. They had some great stuff. I am going to use as many aluminum parts as possible. I know it is more expensive, but I want to keep the weight down. Savvy makes a pretty good skid system that bolts to his MML and tucks everything up pretty well. It covers the engine, tranny and t-case. I am probably going to use UCF gas tank skid (aluminum) that takes avantage of the BL and allows the gas tank to be lifted higher.

Might be a while before that happens, gotta a few things to finish up on the truck.

Jack
 

Ageless Stranger

New member
The color is growing on me. My first Jeep was white and I still prefer white, but man, does this thing pop when it's clean. A body lift, MML and TT are probably the next thing on my list. I will be adding the Currie Anti-Rock sway bar. I really like them.


Jack

That's what I run on my Jeep, Jack. OME lift, with a 1.25" BL and a Rokmen TT. As far as the MML goes, I would highly recommend the brown dog MML. They completely replace the stock motor mounts, and are very beefy. I used the JKS MML that came with my lift kit, but once I saw the Brown Dog mounts, I wished that I had bought them instead.

The Currie Antirock, as well as the Currie steering are two upgrades that I highly recommend. I'm running both and I've very happy with them.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,527
Messages
2,875,540
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top